Jo Chipchase, born in Newcastle but now living with her sons in Spain, on Britain’s big step backwards after the Brexit vote

 

I was born in Newcastle in 1972 and spent my childhood in Walkerville.

When I was growing up in the 1970s and 80s, society was less enlightened than it was today. Most people referred to the local corner shop as the “Paki shop” and openly used derogatory terms such as “Pakis”, “Darkies” and “Chinks” (the Chinese) in public.

Golliwogs existed as playthings and as a logo for Robertson’s marmalade. The Black and White Minstrel Show – where white musicians painted their faces dark and pretended to be stereotypical black people – was popular on TV until 1978.

Gay people were the subject of rude jokes that I won’t mention, especially when the AIDS epidemic came to light in the 1980s.

We had blatant sexism too. If you took your car to the mechanic, the walls would be festooned with topless pin-ups from Page 3 of ‘The Sun’. “The Wife” was not necessarily an equal: she might be expected to do the washing up and iron hubby’s pants while he went down the pub and guzzled beer with his mates.

At this time, “political correctness” was not well-advanced. The fields of racial and gender equality needed further effort. By the 2000s, continuous legislation and hard work had ensured that a more tolerant and diverse society existed in Britain and could be promoted world-wide. If people didn’t like their neighbours who hailed from a different country or culture, they would usually not shout about it, not publicly, at least. This was considered un-politically correct (“un-PC”). The National Front, which was at its peak in the 70s, then the BNP existed to promote an idea of White Britain but was thankfully considered extremist by most people.

I never imagined we would turn back the clock.

But like a fortress that took years to build, a seemingly stable structure can be blown up overnight – for example, by the Brexit vote. Tensions that were clearly bubbling under the surface have recently spewed out in public. Pandora’s Box has been opened and I am not sure it can be closed again.

Fast forward to July 2016, a handful of days after the EU Referendum. I am standing in a Scottish hotel reception alongside an elderly British man who, seemingly without thinking, asks an Indian receptionist “where did you manage to escape from”? The receptionist looks surprised but remains unfazed.

While this was rather un-PC remark was meant to be a harmless joke, four months after the referendum, it strikes me that questioning other people’s origins has become commonplace in Britain and being ‘PC’ is in rapid decline, with right wing politicians failing to uphold these standards in public.

Strikingly, Home Secretary Amber Rudd recently wished to “name and shame” UK companies that employ too many foreign workers. How must this make EU workers in the UK feel about their value and future? How does it make the UK look overseas?

Furthermore, a census was distributed by UK schools that asked parents to state their child’s nationality and country of birth. The document stated that parents of children born in the UK who are British Nationals need not complete it, and that it was for “data purposes” only. None of this is calming the rising tide of xenophobia.

Fuelled by the propaganda printed by the Daily Express and Daily Mail, UK citizens who have decided they don’t like “Johnny Foreigner” and think he has taken “British jobs for British people” – including the ones British people won’t do, such as fruit picking, cleaning and shift work in hotels – now feel enfranchised to say “where did you come from and why don’t you **** off back there”. Immigrants are also receiving short shrift.

Ugly material has been appearing on Facebook groups aimed at Leavers and those on the Right. One of the worst comments I saw suggested that refugees should be “sent to gas chambers and turned into bars of soap”. I doubt that this comment would have appeared on a public forum before June 23.

Some extremists feel that it is OK to burn down Polish shops and beat up people who speak in Eastern European accents. This is not just a big step backwards in race-relations: it is ugly and should have no place in “Great” Britain. I worry that the recent hate crimes haven’t been sufficiently discouraged. Even French people who have lived here for two decades are reporting to their Embassy that they have been the subject of racist behaviour, based on their accents.

The Journal recently reported that Newcastle school children believed immigrants would be “sent back home” after Brexit – a view that is clearly coming from the adults, as well as from the tabloid press. But… many of these “immigrants” are third-generation, born in the UK to parents who have lived here for decades. “Home” to them has always been England.

Meanwhile, of the 4.5 million Brits living abroad, 1.3 million have migrated into Europe. A recent poll for the Independent on Sunday found that 52% of Brits want to be “free to live and work anywhere in the European Union” while just 36% believe our fellow Europeans have the same right to live and work in Britain and 46% hated the idea. This is clearly a case of ‘have your cake and eat it’.

I am one of those migrated Brits. I live with my two school-age children in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Granada in southern Spain. Unlike expats who hang out in English bars eating pies and mash, we have integrated with the Spanish community and my children are bilingual, which will stand them in good stead work-wise.

As with many other British expats, I was shocked by the result of June 23. It was like waking up into a bad dream, with the rug being pulled from under our feet. Some expats feel bereft. Furthermore, the UK’s recent bizarre behaviour is embarrassing when viewed from another EU country which isn’t being xenophobic.

Jo Chipchase
Team Leader of Bremain Writing Team 

Published by Chronicle Live

Golliwogs existed as playthings and as a logo for Robertson’s marmalade. The Black and White Minstrel Show – where white musicians painted their faces dark and pretended to be stereotypical black people – was popular on TV until 1978.

Gay people were the subject of rude jokes that I won’t mention, especially when the AIDS epidemic came to light in the 1980s.

We had blatant sexism too. If you took your car to the mechanic, the walls would be festooned with topless pin-ups from Page 3 of ‘The Sun’. “The Wife” was not necessarily an equal: she might be expected to do the washing up and iron hubby’s pants while he went down the pub and guzzled beer with his mates.

At this time, “political correctness” was not well-advanced. The fields of racial and gender equality needed further effort. By the 2000s, continuous legislation and hard work had ensured that a more tolerant and diverse society existed in Britain and could be promoted world-wide. If people didn’t like their neighbours who hailed from a different country or culture, they would usually not shout about it, not publicly, at least. This was considered un-politically correct (“un-PC”). The National Front, which was at its peak in the 70s, then the BNP existed to promote an idea of White Britain but was thankfully considered extremist by most people.

I never imagined we would turn back the clock.

But like a fortress that took years to build, a seemingly stable structure can be blown up overnight – for example, by the Brexit vote. Tensions that were clearly bubbling under the surface have recently spewed out in public. Pandora’s Box has been opened and I am not sure it can be closed again.

Fast forward to July 2016, a handful of days after the EU Referendum. I am standing in a Scottish hotel reception alongside an elderly British man who, seemingly without thinking, asks an Indian receptionist “where did you manage to escape from”? The receptionist looks surprised but remains unfazed.

While this was rather un-PC remark was meant to be a harmless joke, four months after the referendum, it strikes me that questioning other people’s origins has become commonplace in Britain and being ‘PC’ is in rapid decline, with right wing politicians failing to uphold these standards in public.

Strikingly, Home Secretary Amber Rudd recently wished to “name and shame” UK companies that employ too many foreign workers. How must this make EU workers in the UK feel about their value and future? How does it make the UK look overseas?

Furthermore, a census was distributed by UK schools that asked parents to state their child’s nationality and country of birth. The document stated that parents of children born in the UK who are British Nationals need not complete it, and that it was for “data purposes” only. None of this is calming the rising tide of xenophobia.

Fuelled by the propaganda printed by the Daily Express and Daily Mail, UK citizens who have decided they don’t like “Johnny Foreigner” and think he has taken “British jobs for British people” – including the ones British people won’t do, such as fruit picking, cleaning and shift work in hotels – now feel enfranchised to say “where did you come from and why don’t you **** off back there”. Immigrants are also receiving short shrift.

Ugly material has been appearing on Facebook groups aimed at Leavers and those on the Right. One of the worst comments I saw suggested that refugees should be “sent to gas chambers and turned into bars of soap”. I doubt that this comment would have appeared on a public forum before June 23.

Some extremists feel that it is OK to burn down Polish shops and beat up people who speak in Eastern European accents. This is not just a big step backwards in race-relations: it is ugly and should have no place in “Great” Britain. I worry that the recent hate crimes haven’t been sufficiently discouraged. Even French people who have lived here for two decades are reporting to their Embassy that they have been the subject of racist behaviour, based on their accents.

The Journal recently reported that Newcastle school children believed immigrants would be “sent back home” after Brexit – a view that is clearly coming from the adults, as well as from the tabloid press. But… many of these “immigrants” are third-generation, born in the UK to parents who have lived here for decades. “Home” to them has always been England.

Meanwhile, of the 4.5 million Brits living abroad, 1.3 million have migrated into Europe. A recent poll for the Independent on Sunday found that 52% of Brits want to be “free to live and work anywhere in the European Union” while just 36% believe our fellow Europeans have the same right to live and work in Britain and 46% hated the idea. This is clearly a case of ‘have your cake and eat it’.

I am one of those migrated Brits. I live with my two school-age children in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Granada in southern Spain. Unlike expats who hang out in English bars eating pies and mash, we have integrated with the Spanish community and my children are bilingual, which will stand them in good stead work-wise.

As with many other British expats, I was shocked by the result of June 23. It was like waking up into a bad dream, with the rug being pulled from under our feet. Some expats feel bereft. Furthermore, the UK’s recent bizarre behaviour is embarrassing when viewed from another EU country which isn’t being xenophobic.

Jo Chipchase
Team Leader of Bremain Writing Team 

Published by Chronicle Live